But Ellerbe has dismissed Pacquiao’s assertions as an “amateurish, transparent” way to promote his matchup with Marquez, over whom Pacquiao won a disputed majority decision in November after having also battled to a draw and a split decision victory over Marquez.

“Manny Pacquiao can’t tell Floyd Mayweather [expletive],” Ellerbe said of Pacquiao, who chose Marquez over a return bout with Tim Bradley, whose controversial split decision in June dethroned Pacquiao as the WBO’s welterweight titleholder and ended his 15-bout winning streak that included eight stoppages.

Marquez lost a one-sided unanimous decision to Mayweather in September of 2009.

“If and when the fight takes place, Floyd will dictate the terms,” said Ellerbe, adding that Pacquiao’s bout with Marquez is one “that, in my opinion, no one cares about.”

“We live in America, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to get involved in a media blitz war,” said Pacquiao’s advisor, Michael Koncz. “I want everything to remain positive. Team Pacquiao, Manny and myself, we’re trying to be positive people.”

The suit sought compensatory and punitive damages for defamation of character, charging that the Mayweathers continued to imply publicly that Pacquiao’s success over eight weight classes resulted from his having used performance-enhancing drugs.

As part of the resolution, the Mayweathers issued a statement in which they denied they ever “intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs.”

“Floyd Mayweather Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions wish to make it clear that they never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance enhancing drugs,” read the prepared statement, issued from the San Francisco-based office of retired judge and mediator Daniel H. Weinstein.

“Nor are they aware of any evidence that Manny Pacquiao has used performance enhancing drugs. Manny Pacquiao is a great champion, and no one should construe any of our prior remarks as claiming that Manny Pacquiao has used performance enhancing drugs.”

It was thought that the Mayweather-Pacquiao settlement could pave the way for the highly coveted Mayweather-Pacquiao clash, since past negotiations between the boxers failed over the notion of drug testing.

“We don’t want to dwell on past negativity and get into a negative media blitz on whether or not Manny and Floyd are going to fight,” said Koncz. “We simply made a statement that Manny would take 45-55. They can do want with that statement.”

ORLANDO SALIDO INJURY POSTPONES DEFENSE AGAINST MIGUEL ‘MIKEY’ GARCIA

Mexico’s WBO featherweight titleholder Orlando Salido has suffered an injury to an index finger that has forced the postponement of a defense against unbeaten Miguel “Mikey” Garcia.

Salido-Garcia was slated to happen at The Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Nov. 10, with a co-feature being undefeated junior middleweight Vanes Martirosyan against Erislandy Lara in a WBC eliminator bout in an HBO-televised double-header.

“He caught his finger in a car door, and it’s being evaluated by a doctor,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “We have to get the doctor’s report.”

Salido is 39-11-2, with 27 knockouts, and Garcia, 29-0 with 25 KOs, while Martirosyan is 32-0, with 20 KOs, and Lara is 17-1-1 with 11 stoppage wins.

The winner between Martirosyan and Lara, who is handled by Golden Boy, would become the mandatory challenger to face beltholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KOs), who is coming off a fifth-round knockout of Josesito Lopez (30-5, 18 KOs) on Sept. 15 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

HBO and officials from Top Rank, which is promoting the card, are attempting to find a replacement opponent for Garcia in the hopes that the show still can go on. Salido’s camp members are hopeful that he can return to the ring in January.

A 2008 Olympic bronze medalist who turns 27 in October, the 6-foot-7 Wilder is coming off a second-round knockout over previously undefeated Damon McCreary (14-1, 10 KOs), of Detroit, on Sept. 8. McCreary had come up with stoppage victories in three of his previous four fights.

In another development, Schaefer said Wilder is unlikely to accept an offer of $20,000 from Main Events to face Philadelphia prospect Bryant Jennings (15-0, 7 KOs), who is coming off a first-round knockout of hard-punching Chris Koval, of Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 8.

“They’re just using Deontay’s name to try to prop up what they’re doing. If the offer was the right offer, then that would be a different thing. The offer, at this point, is not an acceptable offer,” said Jay Deas, Wilder’s trainer and co-manager with Shelly Finkel.”There’s certainly room for negotiation, and that’s something that we’ll explore, but there would have to be a lot of negotiation.”

Jennings, who turned 28 on Sept. 25, is likely slated to return on Dec. 8 on NBC against an opponent to be determined in his native Philadelphia.

“There are a couple of options, which is to do it on their show or to do it on our show, not do it at all, or to do it at a later date. Right now, though, the money’s not in the right ballpark. If the money was in the right ballpark, we would see wihch of the competing networks came with the best offer,” said Deas.

“Because right now, Deontay’s locked in for Dec. 15, and we think that’s on Showtime. So there may be the possibility of them bringing Jennings our way instead of us going their way. Right now, with Jennings trying to fight us in his own hometown, that makes the offer even more off base.”

Wilder is also trained by former Olympic gold medalist and ex-titleholder, Mark Breland, and, Russ Anber.

Also on the card is junior featherweight Luis Del Valle (16-0, 11 KOs) against former titleholder Vic Darchinyan (37-5-1, 27 KOs), who were at 122 and 121, respectively.

Welterweights Antonin Decarie (26-1, 7 KOs) and Alex Perez (16-0, 9 KOs) tipped the scales at 147 and 146 for an event that has been billed as “Road To Glory,” and is being promoted by DiBella, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Gary Shaw Productions.

BRANDON RIOS, OTHERS, TO MEET FANS

Former lightweight beltholder Brandon Rios will host an exclusive meet and greet on Sunday This Sunday from 3:30 p.m.-to-5:30 p.m. at KO Studio Agoura located at 5126 Clareton Drive, Suite 160, in Agoura Hills, Calif.

Rios (30-0-1, 22 KOs) will makie his junior welterweight debut against Mike Alvarado on the HBO-televised Oct 13 undercard of a main event during which IBF and WBO junior featherweight titleholder Nonito Donaire (33-0, 23 KOs) defends his belt against Japanese veteran Toshiaki Nishiokaat the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Sunday’s event is free, and will feature music, food and fun for kids, as well as giveaways for fans. The first 100 people to arrive on Sunday will receive an official Oct. 13 fight night poster.